Official: Arsenal sign defender David Luiz from Chelsea

The Gunners have announced their last signing of this summer as defender David Luiz joins from Chelsea.

Arsenal’s transfer window could finally be deemed a successful one after the club made some excellent signings during the summer. After splashing on reinforcing their attack and midfield, the Gunners have made some defensive signings on deadline day. Arsenal have confirmed the move for defender David Luiz from Chelsea and the centre-back will be wearing the No.23 shirt.

Luiz was expected to play this season at Chelsea. It was only yesterday that Arsenal showed a late interest in him. The move interested Luiz and he subsequently missed yesterday’s training session with Chelsea. However, earlier today, both clubs reportedly agreed on an £8 million fee for the Brazilian, although the transfer was announced well past the transfer deadline.

Welcome to The Arsenal, @DavidLuiz_4 ?

?? #BemvindoDavid

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 8, 2019

Now Luiz is an Arsenal player and could help fill the void left by Laurent Koscielny who joined Bordeaux a few days back. Arsenal have been in the market all summer for a defender. They had a few names on their shortlist and tried to make late moves, including a massive offer for RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano. Those never worked out as Arsenal settled for the 32-year-old Luiz.

From the looks of it, this transfer did not create much of a fuss and went smoothly. Luiz was not the first-choice defender at Chelsea this season and wanted to play regularly. The prospect of joining Arsenal is believed to be motivated by the number of games he will play during the season.

Luiz becomes the second defender to join today after Arsenal signed Kieran Tierney in a £25 million deal from Celtic. Arsenal had been chasing Tierney the entire summer and finally got their man on deadline day. However, Arsenal are set to lose winger Alex Iwobi to Everton after they accepted an offer from the Merseysiders late in the window.

As for Luiz, this could be an excellent team to join and advance his career. The fact that he can add his immense experience to Arsenal’s backline would be a welcome boost for Unai Emery, who worked with the Brazilian at PSG.

After announcing the signing, the manager had a few words on the centre-back. He said, “David has huge experience, and I look forward to working with him again. He is a well-known player and adds to our defensive strength.”

Overall, it is good news for Arsenal as they have strengthened their backline with the signings of Luiz and Tierney. There will be particular interest in Luiz and how he performs this season given Arsenal’s problems in central defence. On the other hand, the relatively low transfer fee does not put immense pressure on Arsenal in the upcoming season.